Virgil Abloh paid homage to Michael Jackson during his second Louis Vuitton runway show this past January. It was clear the Abloh, like many others, was influenced by Jackson’s style, music, and overall presence. Since the premiere of the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, a slew companies have removed the pop icon’s songs, music videos and memorabilia from their respective platforms to show their solidarity with the alleged victims. Abloh and Louis Vuitton have decided to join the movement by pulling all Michael Jackson-themed clothing from their fall menswear collection.

In a statement to WWD, Abloh said, “I am aware that in light of this documentary the show has caused emotional reactions. I strictly condemn any form of child abuse, violence or infringement against any human rights.” In paying homage to Jackson in the collection, he said his “intention for this show was to refer to Michael Jackson as a pop culture artist. It referred only to his public life that we all know and to his legacy that has influenced a whole generation of artists and designers.”

This is a bold move considering the entire collection was inspired by the artists. From the show invitations to the background music, it was clear that Jackson was a huge inspiration to the designer. If you’re not familiar with the F/W 2019 collection, take a look at some of the looks that hit the runway.

French fashion house Louis Vuitton has pulled Michael Jackson-themed items from its 2019 summer menswear collection following a documentary about alleged child abuse by the late pop star.Reuters: People News

Every Paris Fashion Week officially comes to a close when Nicolas Ghesquière takes his bow after his latest collection for Louis Vuitton debuts on a runway at the Louvre. However, in an interesting twist this time, guests arrived at the traditional venue to find a replica built of another art …

Louis Vuitton brought Paris Fashion Week to a close with a novel catwalk, building a replica of the pipes and scaffolding exterior of the Pompidou modern art center within the heart of the Louvre. Vuitton, originally a luggage maker now famed for its handbags, is one in a stable of LVMH-owned brands that put on lavish shows in recent days. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

VIRTUAL VOYAGE: To coincide with the launch of its spring fashion collection in stores, Louis Vuitton has unveiled a series of what it describes as “futuristic postcards” in the form of digital window displays in 12 of its stores worldwide.
Created by scenographer Es Devlin under the artistic direction of Nicolas Ghesquière, the installations are conceived as “teleportation portals toward a transformed city, living postcards of tomorrow’s world,” the house said.
Each window display features original video content lasting 24 hours created by artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann, who also designed a series of exclusive prints for the spring collection.
The displays were recently unveiled in stores in Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Milan and Tokyo.

PARIS (AP) — Louis Vuitton’s designer Virgil Abloh transported celebrity guests at Paris Fashion Week to the graffitied streets of New York in a dramatic menswear ode to Michael Jackson.

Abloh, the first African-American to head a major European fashion house, used his unique platform Thursday to celebrate one of America’s most globally recognized and celebrated black performers.

Here are some highlights of Thursday’s fall-winter shows.

LOUIS VUITTON GOES OFF THE WALL

Model Naomi Campbell and actors Timothee Chalamet and Joel Edgerton seemed amazed to discover a reconstructed cityscape that evoked the King of Pop’s famed music videos, all inside the Tuileries Gardens.

A young, skinny actor resembling the late Jackson as a boy drew applause as he ran and danced across the impressive set of a poor New York neighborhood.

No detail was spared.

Guests clutched their show invites that comprised a single bejeweled white glove, as their eyes were led past a Chinese business store, New York street signs, sidewalks littered with dead leaves, and a barber shop ending at a saxophonist playing on the street.

Campbell nodded to the beat of the soundtrack — an infectious checklist of Jackson’s greatest hits that had some humming well after the show had ended.

“It’s Michael Jackson. My hero,” she exclaimed.

VUITTON’S ABLOH REVISITS JACKSON

It was the flamboyance of Michael Jackson as seen through the classical prism of Louis Vuitton.

The silhouettes of some of the late star’s most eye-popping looks were taken by Abloh and revisited in a slightly more pared-down style.

A military jacket and large sash — that might have come across overly showy — were designed in a tasteful pearl-gray monochrome cashmere.

The signature layering of the singer, who died in 2009, was ubiquitous in the 64-piece parade that went from the subtle to the not so subtle toward the end.

An overlaid silver parka coat in aluminum foil leather and a silver safety vest were among the most literal of the Jackson odes and recalled some of his most spectacular concert performances, as did the models who wore jeweled gloves.

Later in the show, Abloh made a series of prints based on a cartoon in Jackson’s 1978 film “The Wiz” that became a cult classic among black audiences.

Abloh called his hero, Jackson, “the universal symbol of unity on the planet.” Though touching, the collection could have perhaps done without the scarf shirts fashioned out of global flags that came across as a tad busy and somewhat obvious.

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RICK OWENS BLOWS A KISS

A brooding and saucy mood overtook lauded American designer Rick Owens in a 70s-style collection Thursday.

The show was entitled “Larry,” after U.S. designer Larry LeGaspi, whose silver and black space looks were worn by rock groups such as Kiss.

The fall-winter show was very much an homage to the bombastic styles of LeGaspi, about whom Owens has written a book.

Tan, sienna, deep vermillion and lashings of black in the clothes were highlighted by sensually dappled lighting.

Excess was simply everywhere.

Enveloping retro shades, peaked shoulders, oversized sleeves, flares and David Bowie-style tight waists set the time-dial very much to the era of Glam Rock.

As if that weren’t enough, Owens pushed the envelope further with painted white faces and inset leather appliques that resembled women’s genitals. They contrasted purity with provocation.

LeGaspi “helped set a lot of kids like me free with his mix of art-deco sexual ambiguity,” Owens said.

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ISSEY MIYAKE BRINGS THE WIND

The Franco-Japanese house of Issey Miyake put on a collection in homage to the wind.

In the fall-winter silhouettes, it was not the wind of an angry storm at work, but more a gentle breeze that served to curve and soften the clothes’ shapes.

The result was a low-key affair by designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae.

A welcome sharpness did appear in the collection via its print detailing, but its power was diluted by the rounded shapes.

For instance, some jagged yellow diagonal motifs evoked the strong movement of wind — but the looseness of the suits and coats on which they appeared lessened the effect.

The prints were conceived by an Asian wax resistant dyeing technique called batik that the house frequently uses. Issey Miyake is one house that cannot be faulted for its use of cutting-edge fashion-making methods.

Elsewhere, another Asian technique, ikat — a sort of tie-dye — was employed to produce the collection’s strongest pieces.

LIKE A VIRGIL: Virgil Abloh’s first designs for Louis Vuitton have yet to hit the French luxury giant’s boutique network, but they’re already selling up a storm.
A pop-up in Tokyo that opened last week raked in 30 percent more in the first 48 hours than Vuitton’s collaborative collection with Supreme in 2018, Vuitton chief executive officer Michael Burke told WWD.
He attributed the success to “pure unadulterated desire,” citing particularly strong demand for tailored ready-to-wear, mini trunks in white leather and transparent and iridescent weekend bags.
“It was merchandised as a full collection,” he said, also noting that the rush came despite no dedicated marketing campaign, advertising or gifting. About 1,000 people queued up in the Japanese capital to be among the first to buy.
The Supreme collaboration, seen as a watershed moment for streetwear, sold exclusively last June through eight pop-ups in Paris, London, Miami, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul and Sydney.
Vuitton opted for a similar stealth approach for Abloh’s debut spring 2019 collection, first hosting pop-up stores in London and Shanghai last October. One in New York also opened last week, with the first day an invitation-only event for 200 people.
Crowned WWD’s Newsmaker of the Year last year, Abloh went from

TOKYO — Louis Vuitton added five new titles to its “Fashion Eye” series of photo books this fall. On Thursday, the brand held a launch event at its Roppongi Hills store to commemorate the tome “Silk Road” by Kishin Shinoyama. The famed photographer is the first Japanese person to be selected as a part of the series.
The images in the book were originally published between 1981 and 1982 in eight separate volumes that included more than 1,200 photos. For the Vuitton edition, editor Patrick Remy cut this down to nearly 300, which was still far more than the roughly 70 to 80 shots that appear in the other Fashion Eye titles. So in order to keep the thickness of the book equal to that of the others in the series, the decision was made to use an extremely thin paper. Editorial director Julien Guerrier said it was a challenge to find a paper and printing method that would work without transparency issues, but eventually a solution was reached.
“It’s actually very fitting that you have this silk-like paper for a book on the Silk Road,” Guerrier said.
Shinoyama signed copies of the book and gave a short presentation at the event

A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: Actress Shay Mitchell stared in wonder at the venue for the Louis Vuitton show: a neon-lit white maze in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum in Paris. “I’ve been to the Louvre once before, but never like this,” she exclaimed, adding that she listened to Beyoncé’s “Apesh*it,” the video for which was filmed at the museum, on the way to the show.
The “Pretty Little Liars” star has just released a new show on Netflix, “You,” in which she plays opposite Penn Badgley. “It’s about dating with technology, and how crazy it is that you can find endless information about somebody just by checking online,” she said.
Guests arrived just as the sun was setting over the Louvre Pyramid, triggering memories of former glorious sunsets. “Cape Town was amazing,” said Alicia Vikander, who spent a couple of months there recently for a film. “I was lucky enough to see the ocean at sunset from the house where I was staying.”
Léa Seydoux’s pick was closer to home. “The most memorable sunset is the one I’m the most used to: the one I can see from my childhood home in Brittany,” she said.
For Adèle Exarchopolous, it’s more about the